"By a narrow stream on the way to town was a little white pagoda, below which once lived a solitary family…"is an excerpt from the book "Border Town," known as "Bian Cheng" in Chinese. The book is regarded as Shen Congwen's masterpiece for its splendid portrayal of Chinese rural life.

"Border Town" was first published in 1934, and 85 years later, a literary event about Shen Congwen was held at the Penghao Theater in Beijing on August 25. 

People from different backgrounds gathered and read Shen’s works, trying to discover another side of him. The constant exploration of Shen and his works breaks through the limitation of the time. 

A writer and a poet

Shen Congwen is considered to be one of the greatest modern Chinese writers of the 20th century. He was a contender for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1988 and passed away the same year. 

Most readers know about Shen Congwen from his classic Chinese novel "Border Town," which tells the story of Cuicui, a young country girl coming of age during a time of national turmoil. 

But this literary event is not only about his famous novels, but also his poems, which show the author's emotional side. The full name of this literary event is "Shen Congwen's poems and the first half of his life." Participants read Shen's poem in sequence and shared their feelings. 

Shen Congwen had been a teacher and he fell in love with one of his students, Zhang Zhaohe. He wrote many poems to Zhang to express his love. One of the most famous love poems is from "Recollections of West Hunan," it wrote: 

"I have traveled across bridges in many places, seen beautiful clouds many times, tasted many kinds of wine, but I have only loved one person at the best age."

Readers from all corners

Li Hui, a writer and journalist who won the first Lu Xun literature prize, and Yang Zao, a writer and scholar who holds a Doctor degree of Peking University, co-hosted the literary event on Sunday. They introduced Shen Congwen's background, family, literary achievements and personal life.

Singer Moxi Zishi showed up and read Shen Congwen's poem, and he also played the harmonica to accompany other people's readings. 

Actress Hou Yingjue came to the event and read three poems of Shen's. Her passionate readings drew strong applause from the audiences. There were other celebrities at the event, such as poet Yan Bing and novelist Zhao Zhiming. 

At the same time, there were quite a few audiences came on the stage to read Shen's poems aloud. A student from Fudan University said Shen’s works resonated with her. Her major was literature but now she works in the Internet industry. An investment associate said he has loved Shen's books since childhood, and today is the first time he learned about Shen's poems.

Everyone who gathered at the Penghao Theater seems to have their own interpretation of Shen's poems, but they all yearn to have the poetic life that they see in Shen's works.

(Cover image by Liu Shaozhen)